Hevron Jews On Edge over New Expulsion Threat

Jews in Hevron are facing the prospect of another expulsion after the State Prosecution adopted a former senior prosecutor’s opinion in favor of evicting Israeli Jews from Beit Ezra.

Beit Ezra is a Jewish owned building in Hevron that was abandoned in 1947 when Jews were forced from the city, but was restored to Jewish ownership following the 1967 Six Day War.

A court has issued a verdict favorable to the Jewish families living in the property, but the families’ rights to the building have been challenged by a Peace Now lawsuit calling for their eviction.

State attorneys, rather than challenging Peace Now’s claims, plan to support the group’s demand to oust Israeli families from the property. While legal and government sources including a Defense Ministry judicial committee, former Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy and senior ministers have backed Israeli claims to the building, state attorneys chose to adopt instead a minority view voiced by former deputy attorney general Mike Blass.

Blass, whom Jews in Judea and Samaria have long viewed as hostile to their cause, said that Jews should be evicted from the home.

“How can it be that senior state officials support taking Jewish property that was stolen and abandoned and putting it in Arab hands?” Jewish residents of Hevron asked. “And this when we’re talking about an opinion that opposed both the position taken by the entire executive branch and court rulings in the matter.”

“We hope that Netanyahu will put an end to administrators’ control of the State Prosecution,” they added, “and will finally adopt the Levy Report, and in particular, stand behind past declarations about the Jewish people’s right to live in Hevron.”